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Witching Metal Ritual, the debut full-length from Austin, TX-based Witches Mark is certainly a diverse little album. If you just listened to the opening track, "Bringers of Heavy Metal Death," you couldn't be blamed for thinking you were in for some serious Venom worship. The song is loose and angry, blending thrashing riffs with NWOBHM melodies and sandpaper shouts. But wait, track two, "Salem's Fire" is a double-kick Power Metal anthem, still rough and warty, but with cleaner vocals and a catchy chorus. The next few tracks are throwbacks to the Power/Thrash of early Helstar, interrupted only by the slow Doom of "We Die." We're back into speedy Power Metal for the title track before the album closes out with some Blackened Thrash riffage on "Where None Can Follow." I've thrown some big names out in this review and make no mistake, Witches Mark are not yet on par with any of those legends, but I do think they've done a great job blending a lot of different styles into their own sound, one that works well for the duration of Witching Metal Ritual. If you are getting tired of the same old stuff, this is an album that may snap you out of your funk.